


Bad Blood

by Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa)



Series: Eirlyssa's 2019 Bingo Fills [13]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Gen, Howard Stark Ruins Everything, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, It Drops, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, Tony Stark-centric, Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop, introspective, tony stark is right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-28 18:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20430728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eirlyssa/pseuds/Iron_Eirlyssa
Summary: When Gregory appeared, claiming to be the son of Howard Stark, Tony couldn't help but think this would not be going anywhere good. And as it turned out, he was right.





	Bad Blood

**Author's Note:**

> A short piece, filling S4 - Doppelgangers, evil twins for my Tony Stark Bingo. Title from Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood', though also a _lot_ based on the blood relation between Tony and Gregory.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

The television was on in the background, showing a Stark Industries event.

Tony knew he was torturing himself, just a little, by not just shutting it off. He tried telling himself that it was proper caution, wanting to be sure he didn’t miss anything he shouldn’t, and it was partially true. But JARVIS could have kept track instead, informing him in case anything important happened.

Instead, he watched as Pepper smiled happily at Gregory as he talked about upcoming improvements, spotted the Avengers in the crowd.

There were a lot of conflicting feelings involved in the entire situation, but despite the fact that it had some advantages, he didn’t think it was something he’d voluntary redo if he could choose. The blessed freedom from the press, even the relative lack of obligations, weren’t worth all of _this_. Weren’t worth being left in the dust as soon as a ‘better model’ showed up.

As oblivious as he could be, Tony _knew_ he was hardly perfect. But he’d thought - hoped, perhaps - that people cared about him despite that.

But he was right back where he’d started, no one but Rhodey (and Rhodey’s absolutely awesome family) on his side. Rhodey, and his own creations. Pepper, after having confirmed that Gregory _was_ actually Howard Stark’s biological son, had appeared beyond relieved to have someone who cooperated with her and wasn’t constantly involved in scandals and other messes. SHIELD and the Avengers hadn’t even hesitated - they hadn’t really been close to Tony, after all, what with his never having been recommended, and Gregory was a very charming person.

Enough so that Tony honestly doubted it would last. There was a reason he’d turned out as he had, after all. Constant attention from the press, highlighting all of his smallest flaws and mistakes, as well as the pressure from the company itself meant that there was very little that was honestly private.

Of course, Tony was aware of the fact that, in hindsight, <del>Obie</del> Stane had worsened all of it for him. But it wasn’t an easy life, and sooner or later a mistake would happen that would be caught by the media, because they always did. And ever since Gregory had entered the scene, Tony had kept a very careful eye out, because either that moment would happen and the good and kind and witty man that the world had seen would end up getting hurt and crashing one way or another.

Or there was something else going on.

Ever since Obie, since Afghanistan and the Iron Monger, Tony had become paranoid about the misuse of his creations. And while he was aware of the fact that there was hardly a way for people _not_ to be able to figure out how to use just about anything for evil if they truly wanted to, he was terrified of something happening that he could have stopped if only he’d _paid more attention_. If only he’d been more careful, if only he’d been _better_.

And while an unkind part of him hoped that Gregory was really the nice guy he appeared to be and he’d end up crashing and burning once the realities of life in the spotlight would hit, a frightened part of him worried that Gregory wasn’t nice. Worried that he wasn’t the guy he appeared to be at all, and he was fooling all of them for some nefarious reason.

(Rhodey had reasonably pointed out that it might be jealousy talking, because he was _Rhodey_, but he also wasn’t discounting the idea and taking proper caution around Gregory, _because he was **Rhodey**_. Tony loved him.)

But hey, he was an intelligent person. He could work with two or more ideas at the same time, preparing for the worst-case scenario for each of those ideas.

JARVIS was also keeping an eye out, especially around the company, and had helped to make sure that new inventions had a way for Tony to get in, just in case. The stuff SI had come out with since Gregory had taken over for Tony (a request from Pepper that he hadn’t been able to refuse, not with how clear it was that it would make her happier) wasn’t much different from what Tony had been steering them towards since Afghanistan. Mostly, it was new gadgets.

He could’ve liked Gregory, he thought. Tony had always liked intelligent people, after all, and he’d seen how charming Gregory could be when he wanted to. But Gregory had… Well, he’d either genuinely not appreciated Tony all that much, or he’d played it very smart.

No matter that it hadn’t been Tony’s fault that it had taken his mother a long time to conceive; no matter that it hadn’t been Tony’s fault that Howard had then decided to stray; no matter that it hadn’t been Tony’s fault that, near the end of Patricia Miller’s pregnancy, it turned out that Maria had been able to conceive after all; no matter that it hadn’t been Tony’s fault that Howard had then decided to abandon both Patricia and Gregory, though with a very generous ‘severance package’ that meant they hadn’t needed to struggle for money.

No matter all of that - Gregory made it clear that he still blamed Tony for the fact that he’d grown up without a father, and that he still disliked Tony for their father clearly loving him more.

Tony had wanted to laugh in his face.

It became a lot less laughable when it turned out that, just like every other damn time in his life, no one else seemed to be willing or able to point out how unjustified it was. Instead, they were content to shake their heads at Tony whenever he tried to, telling him to have some compassion.

Only Rhodey (who was not only very willing to shut down anyone’s bullshit, but had also been there when Tony had been younger and a little less practiced at hiding the true extent of Howard’s so-called parenting skills) had shaken his head, though he followed Tony’s lead in letting it go. Considering how subtly Gregory had worked to completely remove Tony from everything, he’d been kind of worried about what his ‘brother’ would do if Rhodey went against him too strongly. It might end up just fine if Gregory was genuine, but if he wasn’t…

So Rhodey pretended to like him just fine, and pretended just as much that he didn’t have a whole lot of time to be spending away from the Air Force. If there was to be a blast zone, Tony wanted his best friend to be as far away from it as possible.

In the meantime, Tony himself had retreated to one of the mansions that his parents had left him that wasn’t currently in use as a safehouse, considering Malibu had too many memories (and also wasn’t close enough to New York in case something _did_ go wrong, even with the armor). So Virginia it was.

There, he worked hard on an assortment of things, but also just… took some time for himself. He had an online psychologist that he told somewhat edited stories about his issues so they could help him, and to his astonishment, it actually did help. He spent time with his ‘bots and JARVIS without actively being at work. Occasionally, he made a trip over to the Rhodes’ to have dinner with them and just hang out. Worries about the future aside, he actually felt better than he had in years.

To some extent, it seemed like a blessing in disguise. He wouldn’t pretend it was _great_ being shunted aside like this, but… He’d never had a life outside of the spotlights, outside of the expectations of others, outside of everything that came with the Stark name. Until now.

And with that freedom came an energy that he hadn’t felt in years. Sure, there were underlying reasons - climate change, mass starvation, injuries, a possible impending invasion from outer space - but he finally felt that passionate spark of invention again that he’d had his first taste of when working on the Iron Man armor in Malibu. It was why he’d started, why he loved it, and if it hadn’t been for the _how_ of his getting here (and the _how it was likely to end_) he honestly would have been grateful.

But it had to end - he knew it did, had waited and planned and anticipated.

It started subtly. Mysterious contracts with SHIELD that did not specify _exactly_ what Stark Industries would be producing, or for how much. Inventions that tended _just_ a bit too much towards weaponry for Tony to be entirely comfortable not keeping an eye on them. And an inconspicuous mention of a ‘Project Insight’ that made the hair on the back of Tony’s neck stand up.

It ended anything but subtly, with a grenade launcher fired at Fury’s car, an order to arrest Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye, and Pepper calling him one early morning to tell him that Stark Industries had helped create something _terrible_ that might end up getting millions killed.

**Author's Note:**

> This probably won't be continued - not sure I'd be able to appropriately write Super-BAMF!Tony proving to everyone that he was right, and now he has to save them all. But that _is_ how I envision this ending, so :)
> 
> Feel free to come check out my [Tumblr](https://eirlyssa.tumblr.com/) as well if you want.


End file.
